The Unwelcome Apprentice
by Adelle99
Summary: Snape is forced to hire an apprentice to help with his teaching duties when he is assigned a top-secret project to work on. Hermione will do anything to stay at Hogwarts, even become Snape's apprentice.
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

Snape is forced to take a student as an apprentice/assistant to help with his teaching workload when he is given a secret project to work on. Unfortunately for him, Hermione Granger applies for the job and being the most qualified gets hired.

Hermione only wanted an opportunity to remain at Hogwarts but she didn't know what she was getting herself into when she applied to be Snape's apprentice.

Author's Note: This fic explains away or simply ignores many deaths that took place in DH.

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

Ch 1: The Apprentice

Hermione was lost in thought as she walked to the last class she would ever attend at Hogwarts. While she had been ecstatic at the beginning of the year to learn that all students would be given the opportunity to redo the previous school year due to the inadequacy of a Death Eater-run Hogwarts, allowing her to return for her 7th year, she was not yet ready for it to be over. She was filled with a sense of loss. She had no idea what to do with her life. And how would she survive without everything she had come to rely on at Hogwarts, especially the library, where would she go now when she just needed to relax and forget about all the stressful things in her life?

While many jobs were now available as the wizarding community continued to rebuild after the war, none of them interested her. She wanted a job that involved some sort of learning and research but that also gave her the opportunity to expand on projects to protect magical creatures such as house elves. But there was simply no job like that. Staying at Hogwarts however would fulfill both of her wishes giving her the opportunity for learning as well as enough free time to work on devising a way to aid abused magical creatures. Perhaps she could get permission to stay as a part time student and take all of the classes that she had not been able to fit in her schedule over her years at Hogwarts.

The walk to her last class was over far too quickly and she had to snap herself back into reality. As luck would have it, her last class was Potions, which was once again taught by Professor Snape. Barely surviving the snake bite he had received during the final battle but then being forced by a new board of directors to give up his post as Headmaster to Professor McGonagall and return to his original job as Potions Master had done nothing for his temper. He had been even more ruthless than ever before when it came to disciplining his class and assigning homework.

Hermione wondered what Snape would have them do for their last class. Their NEWTs were over and there was no time left for graded assignments. Most of the other professors had simply given them a motivational speech or talked about how their subject would be important in the larger wizarding world or about job opportunities their subject applied to. Hermione found it difficult to imagine Professor Snape doing any of those things.

She sat down at her usual table, one of the first to arrive in the classroom. Harry and Ron arrived a few minutes after her and sat down next to her. Harry gave her a curt hello and Ron said nothing. Since Hermione had broken up with Ron the week before neither of them had really spoken to her. She believed she was completely justified in breaking up with Ron after he had made a complete fool of himself. He had goaded a Hufflepuff to start a food fight in the great hall for a reward of a stock of Honeydukes candy. The boy had taken the bait and Ron got to be a part of a food fight while escaping any blame. His actions had disgusted her so much that she had promptly broken up with him the same night, telling him that she expected a certain level of maturity out of someone who had helped defeat Voldemort.

Just as the silence between her and the boys was beginning to become unbearable, Snape entered the room with the usual dramatic billow of robes. She thought with a pang that she would even miss Snape after leaving Hogwarts.

"Take out your books and turn to page 590," he began, "there you will find the potion you will be making today."

With that he sat down and pulled out a book off his desk and began reading. When no one moved, he glanced up, "Begin," he said in his most commanding voice.

This pushed Hermione into motion. She took out her book and began reading through the ingredient list.

"But sir," Ron said in a whiney way, "this is our last day of school, surely you don't expect us to actually do work. Anyway there's no way you can make us."

"On the contrary, Mr. Weasley," Snape said, glaring at him, "you will do as I say. If not, I believe Gryffindor has 450 points now, yes? I will take 10 away for every minute you sit there and do nothing, we have 45 minutes left of class, I believe. Surely even you can figure out what Gryffindor will be left with if you continue to do nothing."

That was enough to get the rest of the class pulling out their textbooks with exasperated sighs.

Snape looked up at the class five minutes before the end of the class. None of them were remotely close to finishing their potions, except of course Miss Granger, who was vigorously stirring the potion. He couldn't wait until the hour was over and he would be free of Potter and his gang for the rest of his life.

"You may finish now," he said, "please put whatever you have in a vial and bring it to the front. If you have done an adequate job, I won't take any points from you." He waited for the students to finish up.

"Now, I have one final announcement to make. It appears that Headmistress McGonagall has found extra responsibilities besides the usual teaching for me to do next year and she insists that I take a student from this year's graduating class as an apprentice and teaching assistant. I have no need for any help but the Headmistress insisted so I'm forced to offer you all the opportunity to apply. If you wish to apply talk to me after class."

* * *

Miss Granger's hand shot up vigorously in the air, Snape sighed, he thought he was done with having to answer her endless questions.

"Yes, Miss Granger," he said reluctantly.

"Sir, what criteria will you be looking at when you evaluate the applications for this position?"

Snape prayed she was just asking to satisfy her curiosity and not actually thinking of applying for the job, he didn't think he could survive a year with Hermione Granger as an apprentice.

After a moment, he answered, "We will look at your NEWTS of course, as well as your overall performance in Potions and other classes over your time at Hogwarts. The application also requires you to write an essay about what qualifies you for the post and one about a current research area in the subject of Potions. Now if there are no more questions, you are dismissed."

* * *

It was strangely anticlimactic, Hermione thought. For someone who had started his class with such an intimidating speech about the glory of Potions, to end with such a simple statement. As other students left the classroom, she approached Snape's desk. As much as she dreaded working with him, it would be a sacrifice she would have to be willing to make if she wanted to stay at Hogwarts.

"Professor," she began, "could I have one of those applications you mentioned?"

He shoved a roll of parchment in her hand, "It is due within two weeks and we will notify you if you got the post within four weeks from now. But I wouldn't count on it, if I were you I would start looking for other options."

"Thank you sir," she said quickly, fleeing the room clutching her one chance to return to Hogwarts.

* * *

4 weeks later:

Hermione paced across her room. She should hear back from Hogwarts about whether they had chosen to hire her today. Each moment that a reply failed to come her stomach sank lower and lower. She was panicking that perhaps the owl that had been carrying her application had gotten injured and never made it to the castle, or that they had lost her application, or that Snape had torn it up before McGonagall got the chance to see it.

She had spent nearly all her time looking for a job but she just couldn't find one that was anywhere as interesting as the prospect of staying at Hogwarts. She knew that she was the most qualified person for the job but she might lose it to someone else because of Snape's personal dislike for her. Ron and Harry had told her that she was crazy for wanting to work with him, but she hadn't expected them to understand. She had to stay at Hogwarts, she wouldn't feel at home anywhere but at a place of learning and Hogwarts was the best one around. Working with Snape wouldn't be the most agreeable, but it would be worth it if it gave her the chance to return to Hogwarts. And she knew that Snape, more than any other Professor, had pushed her to succeed. His rude comments and refusal to praise anything she did had only pushed her to succeed further. When in other classes she would stop working on an essay once she knew it was nearly perfect, in Potions she had always agonized about little details, hoping that this time Snape would give her praise in addition to the usual criticism. It never happened, but it had seemed that his criticism had become less scathing over the years.

She heard a tapping on the window and she ran to open it. The owl fluttered into the room, and she detached the letter from its leg and tore it open with even more anxiety than when she had opened her NEWT results months before. The first thing she noticed was that it was written in Snape's small, meticulous script. Her heart fell, if Snape was the one to write the letter there was no chance that she had been chosen to return.

She read, "Dear Miss Granger, I regret to inform you that…" she lowered the page, feeling her eyes tear up. It just wasn't fair, she was the most qualified; the position should have been given to her. Some impulse caused her to keep reading Snape's letter, it read, "I regret to inform you that you have, much to my dismay, been chosen as my official apprentice and teaching assistant for the next term at Hogwarts. You should know that you were not my first choice, nor even my fifth, but even I had to agree that by the objective criteria we had created you were the most qualified. You will return to Hogwarts a week before the students arrive. Do not expect me to be any more civil to you now than I was in the past. I have no intention of being your mentor or friend, you will assist me only when I ask and you are not to offer your help unprompted.

-SS"

Hermione was struck with joy and annoyance at the same time. He had purposely tried to trick her with that first line, she was sure. And he hadn't even bothered to properly sign the letter! But then again she had gotten the job and she could stay at Hogwarts for another year at least. She decided to leave for a bookstore as soon as possible, she would research everything Snape could possibly expect her to know so he wouldn't find her lacking.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Let me know what you thought!!


	2. Chapter 2: The Master

Ch2: The Master

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or added this story to your story alerts! I hope that you like this chapter as well!

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

Hermione arrived at Hogwarts on August 20th. For the first time she arrived the way most Professors did, apparating into Hogsmead and then making to long trek to the castle. In some ways she missed the trip on the Hogwarts express. When she finally reached the castle she found Professor McGonagall waiting for her at the main doors.

"Hermione, welcome back," she said with a smile, pulling Hermione into a warm embrace.

"I was so glad that you applied for the post," said the Headmistress, "if you hadn't Severus would probably have gotten some empty headed Slytherin lackey who would have listened to Severus unquestioningly. I have given him a lot of extra responsibilities this year and so he really needs the help, even though he won't admit it. It might take a while before he actually lets you assist him."

"What kind of extra responsibilities Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Oh please call me Minerva, as I have taken the liberty of calling you Hermione, we are technically colleagues now and you are no longer a student here. Of course to be on the safe side you should probably stick with Professor Snape for Severus. As for the nature of his extra responsibilities, that is up to him to tell you if he thinks you're ready. They are highly sensitive in nature and as Severus is the one in charge of managing the project I must leave it up to him to decide who knows about its particulars. Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Um, yes," Hermione said, "where will I sleep?"

"Unfortunately there were no free Professor suites for you in the castle. But Severus's chambers, like many of the other Professor's, were built to respond to the professor's needs so that they can add extra rooms to themselves if the need arises. When we accepted you a room mysteriously appeared in Severus's suite adjoining his sitting room, completely furnished. It seems that is where the castle has chosen to put you so that is where you will go. Oddly enough, Severus's chambers belong to Salazar Slytherin and when we researched into how his quarters were arranged we found that they were much like Severus's are now and that your room belonged to Slytherin's mistress and eventual wife. "

Hermione choked. "Well if the castle is trying to play matchmaker between us it will be sorely disappointed. It obviously failed to take our personalities into account when deciding to throw us together."

"Indeed," said McGonagall, "but all the same Hermione, you must be careful, very old matchmaking magic could be at work here. And I must tell that although I will do my best to treat you as if you were an equal of the Professors in reality you are Snape's employee, any involvement would be highly inappropriate and I would likely have to fire you both if any such relationship came to light whether the reasons were magical or more human."

"I don't think you need to have any worries about that Minerva," Hermione said, the thought of being with Snape was repulsive indeed. And even if he was the most desirable man on earth, she would never sacrifice her job for him.

"Good, then I trust you know the way to your new chambers?" McGonagall said.

"Yes, thank you. This opportunity means so much to me!" Hermione said before making her way down to the dungeons she would soon call home.

She realized once she was in the dungeons that she actually had no idea where Snape's private quarters were. Probably somewhere near the Slytherin dormitory but she could find nothing there that looked remotely like it should lead to someone's living space. Then again, she also wouldn't have expected to find Gryfindor's common room behind a painting of a fat lady either. At a bit of a loss she went to Snape's office, perhaps he would be there.

She knocked. "Enter," came his reply, his voice as deep and silky as always.

She pushed open the door and entered the office, trying to keep her eyes off the things suspended in jars around the room.

"Welcome, Miss Granger," he said, not looking up from the book he was reading.

He remained silent and Hermione wondered what she would say, "Um, sir," she finally began, "if it's not too much trouble could you give me directions to my chambers?"

"Find the painting of the dead fish near the Slytherin common room. The password is 'Unwelcome Apprentice' your door is the first one on the right side of the sitting room, you will find that the bathroom is the door after that. My door is the one on the left. It is heavily warded and you will find yourself in deep trouble should you ever try to open it without my permission."

"Uh sir, that password, does it refer to me?" Hermione asked.

"And the endless questions begin already," Snape huffed, "of course it does, why would you ever think I would want you as an apprentice?'"

"Oh," Hermione said, hanging her head. This apprenticeship could turn out to be a long one indeed.

"Unpack and then I expect you back in my office within the hour. I need to start ascertaining the limits of your ability so I know what I can trust you not to mess up."

After a few more minutes of searching, Hermione finally found the (rather disgusting) painting of the dead fish and gained entry into Snape's sitting room. Hermione drew in a sharp breath when she saw it. Bookshelves lined the entire walls except for where there were doors. Approaching the nearest shelf she saw that a few of the books contained information that was probably even too dangerous for the restricted section. But many others seemed more benign. One section of shelf was dedicated to books that Snape appeared to have used when he was a student at Hogwarts. She recognized the Half Blood Prince's potions book among them; Snape must have retrieved it from where Harry hid it in the room of requirement. She pulled a transfiguration book off the shelf, wondering if all his books had annotations that were as useful as those that had been in his potions book.

There were annotations, although it seemed Snape was not quite as adept at Transfiguration as he was with Potions and hexes. Most of the annotations were hexes of some kind and a few original potions had somehow managed to find their way into this textbook. Hermione went to return it to its place on the shelf and unpack.

A half an hour later Hermione returned to Snape's office.

"Well you certainly took your time," he said by way of greeting, "I am going to test various aspects of your potion brewing skills that were not tested in a regular potion's class. I've devised 10 of them in increasing difficulty. The more you complete the more I will allow you to participate in my experiments for the project McGonagall has me working on. If you successfully complete all 10 I will divulge the nature of the project in its entirety. But don't look so excited, Miss Granger, I think it highly unlikely that you will make it much past the fourth or fifth test. Now for your first test, which I expect you to start now; you will brew one of the more common advanced potions, the Polyjuice Potion."

"But that potion takes so long to make!" Hermione exclaimed. If Snape had chosen all potions that took a long time to brew, she would certainly never finish his 10 tests by the end of the year.

"That is why your test is to find a way to shorten the time frame over which the Polyjuice potion is made, first though, I suggest you devote considerable time to researching the making of the potion over the standard time frame. I have placed the necessary books on what will be your desk in my personal lab. I expect an essay detailing the theory behind the making of the potion by the end of the day. If you find yourself needing extra information you may look in either the school library or my personal library which you have no doubt noticed."

"Oh that won't be necessary Professor, I've already made the Polyjuice potion once before," Hermione said smugly.

This statement caused Snape to look her directly in the eye, "And when did you do that Miss Granger? The ingredients are on the rare side and there's no way an you would have been able to obtain them as an underage witch and I see no reason for you to brew the potion after you had come of age."

Hermione blanched, how could have she forgotten that she stolen some of Snape's supplies to make the potion! How could she have been so stupid? She might as well of just handed Snape a written confession.

"Hm, as I thought, I always suspected that you, Potter, and Weasley had something to do with that theft but I could never prove it or figure out what you needed it for. If you don't mind satisfying my curiosity, where did you possibly find a place to leave a cauldron for so long?"

"In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Hermione admitted, almost mortified.

"Hm, interesting," Snape said, "that was rather idiotic of you, had the ghost splashed anything into the cauldron it would have contaminated the potion." But even as he said this, a slight gleam that looked like impressed surprise lit Snape's dark eyes and Hermione allowed herself a moment of pride for having impressed him.

"Who will the polyjuice potion be turning people into?" she asked.

"Me," he replied, to Hermione's surprise, "I might have need of you impersonating me for a day or two."

Hermione shivered at the thought of being stuck in Snape's body, although it couldn't be much worse than having fur and a tail.

"Now if you are done with your questions, please get started on your reading," Snape said, waving his hand to dismiss her.

Hermione found her way into Snape's lab. There were large wooden desks at one end of the room. The rest of the room was filled with lab benches each with a different kind of cauldron in almost every material Hermione could imagine.

The desk on the right must be hers as there was a stack of books about the polyjuice potion on it. She sat down, pleased to see that a quill and a very large ream of parchment had been provided for her. Hermione began to rifle through the books, occasionally writing something down on some scratch parchment. These books went much further into the theory of why the Polyjuice potion worked than books she had previously read on the topic. After looking at all the books Snape had left for her she decided that they would be more than sufficient for writing her essay.

She wondered briefly why Snape had taken the trouble to ensure that she was so well provided for when he clearly was not happy to have her here. Perhaps McGonagall had threatened him to force him to be a little bit easier on her than he would have liked. Hermione shrugged and threw herself back into her work, doing an essay in one day like this was never something she had to do when she was a student. But she supposed that now that she was an apprentice she could expect a more difficult workload and besides, she didn't have any classes to attend anymore.

* * *

Hermione looked up as she finished the last sentence of her essay. She only had to edit it and then she could give it to Snape. She was quite impressed with her efforts. She knew more about the potion than Snape had expected her to and that gave her a leg up. She had hit every single possible point about the theory behind the potion and had managed to squeeze the contents of five books into a few feet of parchment. It was late, she realized, and she had probably missed dinner. But she was so pleased with her essay it didn't really matter. She read through it once , changing a word here and there, but overall she was satisfied that Snape couldn't possibly find any fault with it, no matter how hard he looked.

She stood up quickly, grabbing her parchment. A dizzy feeling fell over her for a second and she realized how hungry she actually was. She would just have to stop at the kitchen before she went to bed. She made her way back to Snape's office and knocked, entering when he bid her to.

"I finished the essay you assigned, sir," she said, handing him her parchment.

"You are done earlier than I expected Miss Granger, are you sure this is up to my standards?"

She nodded vigorously and Snape smirked, "Well I will read it tonight and see for myself."

She stood hoping he would dismiss her so she could go eat when her stomach rumbled rather loudly. Snape's smirk grew.

"Hungry, are we Miss Granger?" he asked, "I wondered when you weren't in the great hall with the rest of the teachers if you were skipping dinner to finish the essay. I think that this apprenticeship might be too difficult for you to manage without killing yourself from starvation, perhaps you should think again on whether you're really qualified for this position."

"I think even you must realize that of everyone in my year, I'm the most qualified, sir. My marks were much higher than everyone else's. I can do this, I'll show you."

"Marks are not everything Miss Granger, a fact which I hope to get through your thick skull by the end of this apprenticeship. But keep in mind that if I find you neglecting more 1 meal a week that I will fire you. And not because I have any particular concern for your well-being, if you're hungry what little brain you have will cease to function and you will be completely useless to me."

Hermione stiffened as he made his jabs about her thick skull and small brain. How could he possibly say that when she had clearly shown herself to be quite intelligent over the years? Well she would show him, at the end of this apprenticeship she would get him to admit that she was the best student he'd had in years, even if it meant pouring Veritaserum down his throat.

After Snape dismissed her, Hermione made her way towards the kitchen but at the last minute decided that she would head to the library first to find some books that might help her figure out how to alter the Polyjuice potion.

Once in the library she went straight to the Potions portion of the restricted section. She knew that she would not find a book that would directly tell her how to alter the potion; Professor Snape would never give her such an easy task. So instead she looked for books that were about altering potions or speeding the brewing process. In the end she left the library with 3 books and a large grin - it was wonderful to be back at the Hogwarts library again! And now that she had quasi-Professor status there was no limit on how many or how long she could take books out for, she was right in thinking that this job would be perfect for her.

She made a brief stop in the kitchens, having a quick snack and chat with the house elves but not staying to eat quite as much as she should have because she couldn't wait to start reading the books she had gotten.

She found the painting of the dead fish quickly this time. When she entered the sitting room, Snape was already there sitting in one of the black leather arm chairs and the fact that she was going to be sharing a sitting room and bathroom with him finally sunk in. She had to pause for a second before she worked up the courage to sit down in the leather arm chair across from his. As she sat down she realized that the parchment Snape had been reading was her own essay, as soon as she had leaned back in the chair he scribbled something furiously on her essay in bright red. He smirked as though he could see her apprehensive expression even though he hadn't looked at her.

She removed the library books from her bag pausing for a second to wonder which she should read. She had chosen, _The Art of a Potions Recipe: Devising your Own Potions_, _The Theory of Brewing Time_, and _What not to Mix: an Index Incompatible Ingredients_ (which she had gotten only to make sure she would not be blowing herself up when she finally devised her final recipe). She finally decided on starting with the one on brewing time, since it seemed the most relevant. She plopped the other two books on the coffee table that lay between her armchair and Snape's. The other book she placed on her lap. Next she took a quill and parchment that she had spelled to take notes for her out of her bag. She used this system when she didn't quite know what she was searching for in a book and might have to take many notes before she figured it out. The quill and parchment was spelled to hover next to her while she read the book. Whenever she found a sentence of interest she only had to underline it with her finger and the quill recorded the sentence and page number for her.

She began to read and found that she was truly at a loss. The book was very theoretical and she had only a faint idea of what the author was talking about. Frustrated she chose any sentence that might be of any remote importance, which since she was unsure of what most of them meant, turned out to be a great deal.

The hovering quill scribbled furiously, trying to keep up with her progress and making quite a racket. After a few minutes she felt the hairs on her neck prickling as though someone was watching her and she looked up. Snape, who hadn't so much as glanced at her since she had entered the sitting room was now glaring at her, his eyes practically boring holes into her.

She let her hand slip from where it rested on the book and the quill's scribbling slowed until it came to a halt. Snape just continued to glare at her and when she didn't move he nodded his head in the direction of her room. Hermione realized that he wanted her to do her note-taking in her own room and leave him in peace and quiet.

"Sorry," she muttered, grabbing her books and hastily retreating to her room.

* * *

Snape leaned back with a sigh; Granger had finally taken the hint and vacated her arm chair leaving him in peace. He wondered if there was any way to remove her armchair so that she could not ever disturb him. Before her arrival there had only been his armchair in the room, which suited him perfectly as it discouraged visitors. But the day they had sent her the acceptance letter a second armchair and a love seat had appeared in his sitting room. He supposed the castle was anticipating her having visitors, much to his horror. He couldn't have the likes of Granger's friends visiting her in his living space.

Then again the bathtub had been switched from his small clawed-foot one to a large pool-like one similar to the one in the prefects' bathroom, so he supposed there were some benefits to having her here.

Snape turned his attention back to the essay that lay in his lap. It was a typical Granger essay, long-winded and excessively detailed. As much as he hated to admit it, the girl clearly had a decent understanding of potions and her essays were always well structured. But she had always had a problem with thinking outside of the box. She relied too much on what the books said, taking them as complete truth rather than evaluating them with a critical eye. He would have thought she was unable of such analysis if she hadn't been the one who had solved his riddle back during her first year. It had truly impressed him that a little first year had been able to solve the riddle he had spent weeks coming up with. Unfortunately this was the only flair of advanced logic and reasoning skills Granger had displayed the whole time he knew her. Hopefully, the apprenticeship would soon bring out that logical thinking again.

But no, he stopped himself from that line of thought. It was not a good thing that he was stuck with her as an apprentice, so he would not think about what the possible benefits would be. He would force her to quit, or find an excuse to fire her. The tasks he created were specifically designed to frustrate her and hopefully push her to quit and leave him in peace.

With that resolution he continued reading her essay, writing scathing comments in red wherever he had the opportunity to.


	3. Chapter 3: First Day of School

CH 3 – First Day of School

Author's Note: I totally forgot the fact Dobby died in DH until after I got the idea for this chapter, so I'm just blatantly ignoring it XD

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

On September 1st Hermione woke with a groan. She was lying on her bead, still in her clothes with her arm clutched around a book. Bloody hell, she thought, she must have fallen asleep while reading, again. Since Snape had returned what she had believed to be one of her best essays ever covered with scathing red remarks she had become more motivated than ever.

She spent all of each day researching ways to alter the polyjuice potion. She would stop briefly for meals so that Snape would not have an excuse to fire her and she stayed up late into the night reading until exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.

She rolled out of bed and looked over her appearance. Lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her and her eyes were rimmed with dark shadows and her skin was pale. She looked awful.

After doing her best to make it look as though she had gotten more than 4 hours of sleep the previous night, she made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. As this was the last day before classes started teachers generally relaxed and prepared the castle for the arrival of the first years.

Snape was already at breakfast when she slid into her assigned seat between him and Hagrid. Hagrid greeted her happily and expressed concern about the amount of sleep she was getting. After assuring him that she would try to sleep more she began to eat.

"Granger," Snape began (he had dropped the Miss a few days ago and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign), "what I said about meals also applies to sleeping. You will go to sleep before midnight every school night and before 2:00 am every weekend, or I will fire you immediately."

"Er, alright Professor," Hermione said, "but how do you know when I've been going to sleep?"

"There is a certain house elf, Dobby I believe his name is, who is very concerned about your health and he has been telling me the exact time you go to sleep every day, and he tells me twice in one day if you went to sleep after 3:30. Therefore you will stop staying up so late even if it's just to keep that insufferable house elf from bothering me."

"Yes Professor, I'll make sure that Dobby has no reason to bother you anymore," Hermione said. Now she knew why Harry was so upset whenever Dobby tried to "help" him.

"Good," Snape said, "and since tomorrow is the first day of classes and your work load will be increasing I'll give you the rest of the day off. Take a nap or something. I don't want students writing home to their parents that I'm abusing my apprentice."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, stunned that he would give her the day off for her health's sake.

"It's not for you," he said coldly, "I really don't care if you fall sick from lack of sleep. But because of the special project I'm working on I can't afford a Ministry inquiry, which is what would happen if enough people reported me for abusing you."

After breakfast Hermione headed back to their quarters. Snape had gone to his office to finalize his lesson plans for the next day. She looked around the sitting room, it was relieving to see this place Snape-free. Realizing that Snape's absence meant she could finally sprawl out on the very comfortable love seat, she retrieved one of the books she had borrowed from the library and sat down on the love seat. Even though Snape had forbid her from doing work today a little reading couldn't hurt could it?

Hermione stretched out on the love seat and after reading only a few paragraphs fell comfortably into sleep.

* * *

Snape walked back to the great hall after revising all of his lessons. Generally he used the same lessons every year but there were always small things to change, a sentence or two he could throw into his speech for the first years to make it more intimidating. He would have Granger just observe classes for the first few days but after that maybe he'd let her do some of the teaching. At the very least she could grade for him, which would be one big load he'd be glad to get off his shoulders.

He wished he had some excuse so that he would not have to sit through the endless tediousness of the welcome feast. Seeing all those moronic students he would be stuck with for the rest of the year smiling and in a good mood never failed to put him in a bad one. He let his mind wander throughout the endless stream of students coming to sit on the stool to be sorted, doing his best to remember to clap every time a student was announced for Slytherin.

Halfway through the sorting Miss Granger's seat, which was to his right, was still empty. Minerva, who was seated on his left, leaned down, "Severus, where on earth is your apprentice? I need to announce that she is joining our staff and I would like her to be here when I do."

"How should I know where my dear apprentice chooses to while away her hours? She probably has her nose stuck in some book and was unable to wrench herself free to attend this amazingly engaging feast," Severus replied dryly.

"I do not appreciate your attitude Severus," Minerva replied, "she is your apprentice after all, and I expect that you provide her with a little more respect. She is the brightest student Hogwarts has seen in many years, perhaps the brightest since you and you know it. You should show her that you do occasionally or she will persist in throwing away every moment of her time in the hopes that she might be able to impress you."

"In that case she will be very busy indeed because there is no way she will ever manage to impress me. It's not a reflection on her though, but she and you should both have realized by now that _no one_ impresses me."

Minerva sighed, "You are incorrigible Severus. But I expect you to find your apprentice and bring her here before the sorting is over."

Severus sighed and stood. At least this was an excuse to miss the latter half of the sorting and the endless applause that accompanied it. He made his way out of the Great Hall and down towards the dungeons, he had last seen his wayward apprentice on her way to his – no unfortunately _their_ – quarters.

He entered his sitting room and saw her, curled up on that despicable love seat he had never wanted, a book on altering potions clutched to her chest. She looked extremely peaceful in her sleep and Severus took time to be pleased that she was not, for once, asking endless questions or scrambling about in her vain attempts to please him. But unfortunately, he could not just leave her here. He bent over her, smirking, until his face was hovering only centimeters above hers.

"You must make yourself presentable and be in the great hall within the next two minutes or you're fired," he whispered in what he hoped was his most sinister voice, before withdrawing and sweeping from the room, not waiting to see if she hand woken up. The ball was in her court now and if she couldn't make it to Great Hall he would be perfectly justified in firing her.

* * *

Hermione woke with a start and saw Snape sweeping from the room. She threw the book aside and sat up. It took her about a minute and a half on average to walk to the great hall, which meant she didn't have much time.

She looked down at her robes. They were slightly wrinkled so she cast a spell to straighten them out a bit. Her hair was even more tangled than it usually was, but it would just have to do. She ran from the room and sprinted to the Great Hall; arriving 1 minute and 45 seconds after Snape had awoken her.

She sat down in her usual chair, her breath coming in little gasps. The sorting was nearly at an end. "How nice of you to join us Miss Granger," Snape said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye with a smirk plastered on his face, "it seems you are rather short of breath. Perhaps you should consider occasional exercise as it is plain that you are extremely out of shape."

Hermione glared at him, true she wasn't the most athletic, but she was thin and healthy and that had always been enough for her.

"Sir, I must admit I'm rather perplexed by you –" she began.

"Well that's hardly surprising," Snape cut in.

"I'm rather perplexed," she continued, ignoring his comment, "that first you tell me that I'm not eating enough and now you tell me that I'm not exercising enough - those two things seem contradictory to me."

"Hardly, Granger," he said, his voice a bored drawl, "you seem to have your weight confused with your physical fitness. While you weight is appropriate, if maybe a little on the low side, your physical fitness is absolutely unacceptable. I'm surprised you were able to survive the final battle. Physical fitness is of the utmost importance in a duel, you can't get caught short of breath or it is nearly impossible to focus on casting spells."

"Well, as I recall I left the final battle more unscathed than you, sir," she replied smugly, surprised at her own audacity.

"Alright that's it," Snape said, his eyes burning with anger, "Miss Granger you're fi-"

"Ahem," McGonagall coughed, "will the two of you please be quiet for the duration of the sorting ceremony. You are being very disrespectful to the students."

Snape sent McGonagall a glare, but did not continue. Hermione hung her head, hoping he would forget the incident and not fire her later.

The rest of dinner passed without further incident. Hermione was a bit embarrassed when McGonagall announced her new position to the school and everyone (except the Slyterins, of course) clapped. Snape did not speak to her and Hermione was content just to talk to Hagrid about the new creatures he was raising this term.

When the feast was over, Hermione walked back to the dungeons with Snape. He said nothing. Hermione hoped that meant he had reconsidered firing her.

After they entered their sitting room, Hermione retrieved her abandoned book and walked towards her bed room.

"No reading tonight, Granger," Snape said, "you will go straight to bed. You will sit in on all of my classes tomorrow I can't have my own apprentice falling asleep in class, you will set a good example for my students."

"But how did you know I was going to read?" Hermione asked; frustrated that he always seemed to know what it was that she was going to do next.

"Do you think me completely daft Granger?" Snape asked, "You read _every_ night, therefore I would be quite surprised if you did not do so tonight as well."

"Ah, yes, of course, sir," Hermione said, blushing slightly at how stupid she had just sounded.

She turned back towards her door. "Oh, and Granger," Snape said again, and Hermione froze, what was it this time? "If you disobey me I will know, it will be written on your face as soon as you see me tomorrow, that is all, good night"

"G-good night, Professor," Hermione stammered. How had she known she had been thinking about disobeying him? Had he secretly used Legilimency or was she just that transparent to him? They hadn't had eye contact so it was probably just that she was that transparent, she sighed, she would have to learn to hide her thoughts better or this would be an extremely long year.


	4. Chapter 4: Making the Grade

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update :P

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

CH 4 – Making the Grade

"Here you are, Miss Granger," Snape said as he plopped a 2 foot high stack of parchment on the desk in front of Hermione after class.

Hermione simply stared at it. These were all the essays Snape had assigned over the first week of school. He had only given essay assignments to every single class except the first years (he was the only Professor to do so within the first week of classes) and the number of essays was astounding.

"Uh, sir, do you want me to grade all of these?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Why else do you think I gave them to you?" he asked, looking down his nose at her, "don't look so scandalized Granger, I've been doing the grading all by myself the whole time I've been teaching. I expect that as my assistant you can at least manage to do this for me. Or can you not manage this work load? In which case I would be most pleased to allow you to quit the job."

"No, Professor, I can do it, you can count on me," Hermione replied.

"Good, then I expect them in three days. If the average grade you give on these essays deviates from my usual average by more than 2 points, you will be fired."

"I assume there's no chance you would tell me what your usual average is, Professor?"

"No," was his only response as he turned and swept from the room.

Hermione returned her gaze to the stack of papers, what had she been thinking, getting herself into this mess just so she could live at Hogwarts?

* * *

Back in her personal office, the one thing she thankfully did not have to share with Snape, Hermione stared at the stacks of essays before her. She had separated them by year and was wondering which it was best to start with. She had spent a long time thinking about how Snape graded. Despite the scathing criticisms he had given her on a regular basis, she had still usually received an O on her potions homework, proof that Snape could give good marks. Harry and Ron's grades had been more erratic but she remembered their highest and lowest scored essays and thought she could use those as a base to figure out how to score the essays that lay before her. She wondered briefly if Snape gave Gryffindor lower grades and Slytherin higher grades than everyone else but finally decided that even he would not stoop so low.

Finally settling on starting with the second years and working her way up Hermione grabbed the first essay. It was riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes from the very first sentence and was totally wrong in its analysis of the essay topic. Hermione raised her red quill and thought that after hundreds of essays like this one perhaps it would not be so difficult to grade like Snape.

* * *

3 days later:

"Here are your essays, Professor," Hermione said proudly, dropping the two foot high stack of essays on the desk in front of him after class.

"Ten points from Gryffi-," Snape began, "Damn it! I can't take points from you if you're no longer a student."

Snape looked around Hermione to see which students remained in the class room. There was one very unfortunate first year Gryffindor boy who was still packing up his bag, Snape smirked.

"You there, ten points because you allowed Miss Granger to drop these essays, and another ten because you're taking so long to leave my class."

The boy looked up opening his mouth as if he were about to protest, Hermione shook her head ever so slightly at him. The boy took the hint and ran from the room, his bag still open and his books practically spilling from it.

Hermione looked back at Snape, his smirk had grown even larger and his body was shaking ever so slightly. Hermione wondered if there was something wrong with him until she realized that he was laughing silently - she hadn't known Snape was capable of laughter!

"Well, Granger," Snape said, "that's one problem solved, every time I want to take points from you I'll simply take them from whatever Gryffindor happens to be in the immediate vicinity. I will look over your grading of these essays. You are dismissed now."

Hermione nodded to him and left the room as swiftly as she could while still retaining her dignity. She prayed the average she had given on the essays was close enough to what Snape gave so she wouldn't be fired.

* * *

Snape sat at the desk in his office reviewing the essays Miss Granger had given him. He was becoming more frustrated with each essay. He had thought there was no way that Granger could ever match the grades he gave on essays, she would be too nice. But he had been sorely mistaken. Granger's average grade was exactly .5 points below his. He simply could not accept the fact that the Gryffindor who had been willing to help the likes of Longbottom brew potions was a harder grader than he was.

It couldn't be, he thought. He looked through the essays again wondering if Granger had found a spell that would change the grades when he looked at them to be closer to the grade he would have given them. He examined all of the parchments thoroughly but could find no sign of magic.

He turned his attention to the actual comments Granger had written on the essay. Her writing was the same neat and rounded script she used when writing essays and the comments themselves had a forgiving tone, pointing out was wrong with the essay and gently making suggestions on how the essays could be improved. He would have to stress the fact that he had not been the one to grade these or students might start thinking he was gentle despite their low grades on the essay.

* * *

Hermione sat at her desk in the Potions lab completely engrossed in calculations for the Polyjuice potion. She almost had it. She had decided to add a cocktail of ingredients that would serve as a catalyst so that the potion would take less time to brew. But unfortunately that mixture would strength several other ingredients in the potion so she needed to figure out how much of them needed to be put in the potion.

The door swung open with great force, slamming against the wall. Hermione's head snapped up from her calculations as Snape swept into the room. He approached her desk with long gouging strides, "How did you figure it out Granger?"

"How did I figure what out, sir?" Hermione asked, totally confused.

"These," he said, dropping the stack of essays in front of her.

"Does this mean that the average I gave was close enough?" Hermione asked, excited at the possibility that she might have passed this test.

"Answer the question, Granger," Snape snapped.

" I'll just take that as a yes then," Hermione said, "I didn't figure anything out. I just looked the essays and thought that if I were you I would take points off for any inkling of incompetency, that's it. I didn't poll everyone in each class to see what grades you had given them if that's what you're thinking, sir."

"I'm finding it rather difficult to believe that you came up with this average all by yourself, Miss Granger," Snape said.

"Why is that, sir?" asked Hermione.

"Because, not only did you get within two points of my average score, you were actually .5 points _lower_ than my usual score."

"Well, I supposed I assumed that you would give low grades and so maybe I purposely graded harder."

"I suppose I can accept that explanation," Snape said, "continue with whatever you were doing."

Hermione turned back to her calculations; she was so close to completing them. It was only a matter of days before she finished the first task Snape had set for her.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm not that happy with this chapter but I'm having an easier time with the next chapter so far :)


	5. Chapter 5: The Diary

Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

Author's Note – Sorry it took me so long to update. Unfortunately it will be a while until the next update too b/c I'm swamped with school work at the moment but I WILL finish the story eventually (I already have the end written so I have to :P)

* * *

CH5 – The Diary

Hermione lay in her bed, totally exhausted. At long last, it was Saturday. She didn't think she had ever before appreciated exactly how much time teachers spent working. Between attending every class Snape taught, grading the extreme amounts of homework he assigned, and the work she had to do on making a Polyjuice potion that could be brewed in a reasonable amount of time.

But she thought that she finally had a formula would reduce the brewing time for the potion to only about a day. She would try brewing it today. She rolled over slowly and got out of bed. It was best for her to put in an appearance at breakfast or else she might have to risk Snape firing her.

She walked towards her dresser and reached out for her hair brush. It was resting on a small brown leather book that had not been there the night before. Hermione removed her brush and probed the book with every spell that she could think of but she could find no traces of malicious magic.

Carefully she reached out and lifted the book. Engraved on the cover in faded script was a name; Anna Gryffindor. Hermione thought back to _Hogwarts a History_, trying to remember if Gryffindor had any known female relatives; the book looked old enough that it might be from that time period. She thought she remembered something about a sister.

She carefully opened the book trying to avoid touching the brittle yellow pages. The script on the page was extremely regular and surprisingly simple. Hermione began to read:

"It is an amazing thing, to record any thoughts I wish in a diary like this. I was blinded when I was very young by a wayward spell my older brother cast (something he has never quite got over) and have never been able to write or read since. But today I my brother brought me to Hogwarts, the school he co-founded and one of the other founders, Helga Hufflepuff, gave it to me. It records what I say to it and then I simply have to ask it to read back to me and it does.

"All of the founders are extremely kind and ever so gifted at magic. I myself have never learned. Due to my disability it is very difficult for me to learn wand strokes and my early attempts at learning were disastrous for all involved. But my brother says that I would be quite gifted if I could learn and he has taken me to his school to try to help me even though I am 18, 7 years older than most witches are when they begin to learn to use their power.

"As for the founders, Helga I have already mentioned. Rowena was a bit less warm-spirited than Helga, but she had several ideas on how I can learn magic without harming anyone. Lord Salazar Slytherin (it is only proper that I call him by his full title) was by far the most interesting of the founders. I don't think we exchanged more than a handful of words and yet I feel as though he saw deeper into my soul than any of the others. I could quite literally feel his eyes on my and for some reason they caused me to shiver inexplicably.

"I wonder if I should get to know him better. He resides in the dungeons of the castle and since cool, dark environments help ease the ache in my eyes I am to be staying in a room adjoining his. My brother is rather concerned about the propriety of it all but Lord Slytherin gave his word that he would do nothing untoward to me. I myself am unconcerned; no one wants a woman with a disability such as mine.

"After I dined with all of the founders he offered me his arm and led me down to the dungeons. His rooms consist simply of a sitting room, two bedrooms, and a bath. He helped me find my way about the sitting room and the bedroom that is to be mine and then bid me good night, telling me that if I ever needed anything I shouldn't hesitate to wake him to ask for assistance. He seems as though he is a very good and noble man. For some reason my brother doesn't seem to share these sentiments –"

Hermione stopped reading. Anna Gryffindor had stayed in the room that she was currently in! But that meant that Anna Gryffindor had been Slytherin's mistress and eventual wife. Gryffindor's sister had been Slytherin's mistress! Perhaps that was one of the reasons Gryffindor hated Slytherin so much. Hermione wanted to keep reading the diary to see what happened to Anna Gryffindor but she supposed that she should get someone else to check the diary to make sure there weren't any curses on it. Snape should be able to do it.

* * *

Hermione arrived at breakfast late because she had been so absorbed reading the diary. She sat down and was greeted with a large smile from Hagrid and a sneer from Snape.

"Erm, Professor," Hermione said, turning to Snape, "I was wondering if you would do me a favor."

"It isn't enough that I have to have her as an apprentice, now I have to do favors for her ," Snape grumbled before saying, "what is it Granger?"

"I found this diary in my room this morning. It appears that it belongs to Anna Gryffindor, sister to Gryffindor and mistress and wife of Slytherin," Hermione said, handing him the book.

Snape looked down at the book, "Gryffindor's sister was Slytherin's mistress? It seems impossible and yet it would explain why Gryffindor hated Slytherin so much and why there's no record of the name of the mistress anywhere in Hogwarts, Gryffindor must have eradicated all traces of her. And yet this diary survived. I will examine this for you and return it to you when I'm done, Granger," Snape said.

"Thank you, sir," Hermione said, turning back to her breakfast.

Severus set aside the diary of Anna Gryffindor. He had scoured the book for magic for nearly an hour but could find no traces of it. Apparently there had once been a charm on it that had allowed Anna to dictate to it but it seemed that it had long since faded away. It seemed as though Hogwarts had chosen to give Granger this diary at this particular moment. But Severus was rather confused about why. Perhaps it was simply recognizing Granger's desire for knowledge.

Somewhere in the back of his mind a memory stirred. He remembered Minerva telling him the room that had appeared for Granger had belonged to the love of Slytherin's life and that he should watch out for any overly-fond feelings he might be having for his apprentice and quench them immediately. (As he recalled, his response at the time had been, "Have you looked at her hair lately? Because if you had you would have no reason to warn me of this,"). Perhaps, Hogwarts was trying to inspire romance by giving Granger a romantic story about how Slytherin had fallen in love with a Gryffindor. The idea was almost humorous. He would never, no matter what happened, have any interest in that ridiculous Granger girl and he was quite sure the same held true for her opinion of him.

But, really, he stopped to think the Granger girl wasn't so very bad. She could be annoying at times with her questions but at for the past week she had been so enmeshed in the task he had set her that she hadn't taken much time to bother him. And her grading of the essays had been better than anything he had hoped for and if she could continue grading like that he would no longer have to do his least favorite part of his job. Still the fact that he no longer despised his apprentice did not mean he would go professing love to her anytime in the near future, no matter what Hogwarts threw at them.

Lifting the book again he stood and went to go look for his apprentice, expecting he would find her in the lab, working, as she always was when she was not eating or sleeping.

* * *

Hermione stirred the potion. She was sure she had it right this time. She had attempted it twice already and ended up with something that was more of a sludge than a potion, but she had gone back and redone some of her calculations and so far the potion looked right.

She added the last ingredient and had just spelled her wand to stir the potion for the next 10 minutes, as was required, when Snape strode into the room.

"Here is the diary, Miss Granger, I could find nothing dangerous about it and I believe you are quite safe reading it. All the same should anything strike you as unusual about it come to me immediately."

"Thank you, sir," she said, attempting to smile at him, "I am nearly finished with the polyjuice potion. In another 10 or so minutes it should be ready for the final ingredient, a piece of you"

"Yes, thank you for that extra information Granger, I do know the recipe. I will wait and inspect the potion before giving you some hair to add."

They waited in silence until the 10 minutes was up. Snape approached the potion and began inspecting it, his brow becoming more furrowed the more he looked at it.

"Well, it appears you have done it, I never expected you to be able to figure it out Granger," he said with a sigh. Hermione couldn't stop herself from smiling, it wasn't exactly praise but it was the closest thing to it she had ever gotten from him.

He raised his wand and used some spell to slice several strands of hair from his head. He dropped them into the potion and turned his attention back to her.

"Now, stop grinning like an idiot and bottle your potion."

Hermione moved to follow his instructions quickly, transferring the potion to a glass bottle so that it could be stored and used later. The color of the potion caught her eye almost instantly. While the color of Crabbe and Goyle's polyjuice had turned brown, this potion was jet black. While this was hardly surprising, the strange thing was that when the potion was placed in shadow, it shimmered with a slight silver color.

She played with the bottled potion, letting it sit in the light and then waving her arm over it and watching the silver sparkles appear and fade in response to the shadow of her hand.

"What on earth fascinates you so much about that potion that you feel inclined to wave your arms around like a complete imbecile?" Snape asked, the annoyance in his voice clear.

"I was just thinking that the color of the polyjuice potion really does reflect you. In the light it appears jet black – dangerous, unapproachable, and evil, just like everyone thinks you are when they first meet you. But then when you hide it in the shadows, its true nature appears and it glitters like the courageous and true person you have proven yourself to be."

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Granger," he said, "and don't ever associate me with the word 'glitters' again. I'll give you your second task sometime within the next few days. Please properly label and store the potion before leaving the lab."

With that he spun out of the room, leaving Hermione alone to experiment with the Polyjuice whose color (if all the texts she had read about it was true) represented the essence of Severus Snape.

* * *

Author's Note – Please let me know what you think of the Anna Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin side story. It will eventually become important to SS/HG's story so it will occasionally appear but if you aren't interested in it I'll just limit it to what's necessary for the plot. However if you like it I will include more of it.


	6. Chapter 6

AN – I'm sorry it took me so long to update! A lot happens in this chapter so I hope that makes up for it…

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed the story – your comments are very helpful!

There's some slightly suggestive content so I think the T rating definitely applies to this chapter.

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, the universe it takes place in, or any of the characters and I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

CH6 – Potions Conference

"Wake up Granger!" Snape's deep voice issuing from behind the door to her room penetrated her sleep. She rolled over, what time was it anyway? She glanced at her clock, enchanted so its face glowed in the dark. It was 6:00 am on a Saturday! What could Snape possibly be at waking her up so early?

"You've had fair warning Granger! I'm coming in to wake you myself."

The door swung open and Snape swooped in, fully dressed and looking as intimidating as ever. Hermione rolled over to face him, acutely aware of how her tangled hair must look right now.

"You look horrid Granger," Snape said by way of greeting, "get up and make yourself presentable. We have somewhere to go. And wear this rather than one of those ugly student robes you persist in wearing," he said as he flung a package at her, Hermione barely caught it, "and use this to tame that bird nest you call hair," he said as he tossed her a bottle.

"But where are we going, Sir, and why should you care what I look like?" she asked.

"We are going to a Potions conference. Anybody who's anybody in the potions world has to attend. I want you to become acquainted with how they work because it is at one of these conferences that you must impersonate me. I care that you look presentable because since the Potion's world knows that Severus Snape would never take an apprentice you must come as something else – you will be posing as my mistress and you will serve no apparent purpose other than an arm decoration at this event. You are not to speak unless spoken to first and you will smile pleasantly at everything said, especially if I say it. And you will not betray that you have any knowledge of potions than the average brainless mistress would."

"Well, I suppose it is known you would never take an apprentice. But I would have supposed it also know that you never take a mistress either – or at least that none would ever have you," Hermione said, greatly affronted.

"Oh, if only you knew." he said, "When I was Voldemort's rising star I could hardly keep the women off me. And more recently I have received many letters from women wishing to please me; they find the concept of double agent so intriguing. I've always been quite selective when it comes to mistresses – you would never make the cut. But perhaps because I have grown older people will find it feasible that I have stooped to take you as a mistress."

"Why, you misogynistic creep!" Hermione shrieked as Snape shrugged and left her in the room clutching the package and bottle he had thrown at her. She signed and unwrapped the package. A gasp escaped her as a silky black dress robe slithered free of the package to pool on her bed. The robe must have been quite expensive. She removed her pajamas and quickly replaced them with the robe.

She looked in the mirror and flushed slightly at what she saw. The robe was slinky and hugged every single one of the curves she usually hid in her baggy Hogwarts robes. The neckline was a plunging V that revealed her slight cleavage. The effect this robe had on her appearance gave her the desire to redo her entire wardrobe.

She took a small amount of the potion from the bottle and tentatively rubbed it into her hair, slightly concerned that Snape might have given her some sort of hair color changing potion as a cruel joke. To her surprise though, the texture of her hair transformed almost instantly from frizzy disorganized curls to smooth waves. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised; Snape was clearly capable of making any potion no matter what the desired function was. She finished getting ready by putting on makeup – she rarely wore it but it seemed necessary for this occasion.

Emerging from her room she stood before Snape's scrutiny. His eyes grazed over her body from head to toe and she felt her face flush as she resisted covering herself with her arms.

"You are more adequate than I expected," he said, "but no mistress would ever blush like a virgin no matter how a man looked at her."

"Um, of course," she replied struggling to school her features into tranquility.

"That's better. If I see you start to blush I will cough and you will have only few seconds to collect yourself," he said, "Your name is too recognizable, so you will answer by – let me think – Harmonia Genine - now, let's go."

He swept out of the room and Hermione dashed after him, suppressing her indignation at her ridiculous name and struggling to keep up in the high heels she had chosen to go with his dress. When they reached the edge of the grounds Snape held out his hand to her, "You will apparate with me, take my hand."

She did as he instructed, mentally preparing herself for the lurch that always came with side-along apparition. After the unpleasantness had passed, she released Snape's arm and stared in awe at their new surroundings. They stood outside a building that was reminiscent of ancient Greek or Roman architecture. Its entrance was surrounded with columns cast entirely in gold. Above the entrance something was written in gold Greek letters. Hermione could make out the word 'potions' but didn't know enough Greek to decipher the rest.

"Where are we?" she gasped.

"In Greece, of course, I thought the Greek letters on the building might have made that clear even to you." said Snape, "This is the international headquarters of potions as it has been since the first potion makers of ancient Greece."

Snape held out his arm, and Hermione stared in confusion at him before she realized he meant for her to give him her hand so he could walk her into the building. She did so resting her forearm lightly across his. In the past having to do this might have repulsed her but now she was starting to see Snape as more tolerable. She noted that he had also taken more of an effort with his appearance than usual, his hair was not greasy and his robes were of finer quality than he usually wore. As he looked now, Hermione realized with a jolt that she did not find the concept of being his mistress entirely disagreeable.

Walking into a building like the one before her on a man as important as Snape's arm dressed as she was made her feel more confident than she ever had in her life before. She held her head high and let her hips sway slightly as she walked; telling herself this was how a mistress would walk. Snape glanced aside at her when he felt the change in her walk. Leaning close to her, he whispered in her ear, "Very good Miss Granger, you are becoming more like a believable mistress every moment."

She shivered, despite the warm air when his breath touched her ear. The interior of the building was just as grand as its exterior. Snape made rounds about the room greeting various potions masters and sometimes pausing to talk to them about some potion. Hermione listened in rapt attention, she knew many of these people as authors of potions textbooks she had read or from journal articles they had written. She longed to ask them questions but reluctantly swallowed them and forced her face to take up a vapid smile. Snape had talked to at least twenty people so far and none of them had so much as given her a second glance or enquired who she was. Surprisingly enough it seemed that Snape had been telling the truth – he _had _been known to have beautiful mistresses in the past.

The next people Snape walked up to were two men; one older, stooped and graying, and the other a tall and powerful looking man of about twenty. There was a striking resemblance between the two despite their disparity in age – were they father and son maybe?

While all the other potions masters present had greeted Snape with respect and occasionally even awe, the older man glared at him and bowing his head slightly said, "Severus" as if he were speaking the name of his greatest enemy.

"Jameson," Snape said just as coldly, "and I see you have brought your son, Lucas, with you. How pleasant."

The father continued to glare at Snape, but Lucas turned to rest his gaze on Hermione. His cold blue eyes were calculating as they looked her up and down and Hermione had to focus on not blushing under his gaze. He was quite handsome, with powerful shoulders and thin waist, smooth white skin and dark hair.

"And who is this you have with you Severus?" asked Lucas after he finished examining Hermione, "She is too exquisite for the likes of you."

"She is merely my mistress, Harmonia, I have almost had enough of her vapidity, you are welcome to her when I'm finished," Snape said.

Hermione opened her mouth to reply in outrage and Snape stepped discreetly on her toes, she quickly feigned a yawn. She had to remember to respond as Harmonia and not Hermione.

"Well, beautiful Harmonia, know you are always welcome with me," he bowed slightly and left pressing a piece of paper into her hand as he went. The father made some incomprehensible sound and followed the son. Hermione looked down at the paper in her hand.  
"What did he give you," Snape asked, taking it before Hermione got the chance to open it.

"Hey, he gave that to me!" she said, and Snape sighed and handed it back to her looking over her shoulder as she opened it. On the paper was an address, followed by the words, "come here, I wish to speak to you in a more intimate setting."

"But I didn't see him write anything," Hermione said, confused.

"He keeps a stack of these papers around for every social event he attends, in case he finds someone's mistress or girlfriend who he desires for himself," Snape said, disgust clear in his voice.

"What, do you have a chip on your shoulder because your last mistress choose him over you?"

Hermione joked.

Snape looked down at her, "That would never happen."

"I wouldn't be so sure, I for one am quite tempted by his offer. Oh, dear, it's quite warm in here. I think I will go have some punch. Would you like some dear Severus, no, didn't think so," said as she swept away towards the punch, not waiting around to deal with his anger.

Once at the refreshments table, Hermione spooned out some punch barely keeping her anger from showing. If this was how Snape treated the women he'd been with, it was no wonder he was alone, but then why the cocky assurance that no mistress would ever leave him? Hermione was shaken out of her thoughts when she felt a hand rest on the small of her back, and she looked up into the beautiful eyes of Lucas.

* * *

Severus paced around the room watching Hermione fill her cup of punch at the refreshments table. He was beginning to realize that he had made two large miscalculations today. The first was forgetting Lucas's propensity for stealing beautiful mistresses. The second was mixing a potion for confidence in the hair gel he had given Granger. He had hoped that it would increase her confidence in her appearance so that she would make a convincing mistress. He had often noticed that a woman confident that she was beautiful often appeared so and this observation seemed to be especially true for Granger; she was glowing, radiant even, in a way he had never seen her look before.

Unfortunately he had failed to take into account that his potion would not only increase her confidence in her appearance, but her overall confidence in general. She would ordinarily never have the courage to speak back to him and go stalking away as she just had and Severus greatly regretted giving her the means to do so. Of course now it would not take long before she realized that she had talked back to him without being fired and would no doubt continue to do so. Severus was surprised to realize that he had no desire to fire her for her talking back, or for anything, she had proved she could be useful so far and he knew he would never find another apprentice who was her equal.

Snape abandoned that train of thought as he saw the scene unfolding at the punch table.

Granger had just begun to take her first sip of punch when Lucas approached her from behind. He rested his hand all too familiarly against the small of her back and bent down to whisper something as he did. Severus could help but notice that the man took advantage of the situation to take a long glance at Granger's cleavage.

That was it he thought, miscalculation three, giving the girl such a revealing dress. He stalked towards the punch table before he had really thought about what he planned to do.

"Take your hands off _my _mistress," he said coldly to the younger man.

"She won't be your mistress for long Severus, I think she quite prefers me to you," Lucas said, smirking as he ran his hands slowly from where they rested on Granger's back down to her hips.

Snape was prepared to slap the boy senseless when Granger finally regained her sense and stepped away from Lucas. "Excuse me sir, I'm not yours yet, and you have no right to touch me so," Granger said, not sounding as affronted as Snape expected, perhaps she was a better actress than he thought.

He reached out and pulled on Granger's arm and she stumbled towards him. Lucas shrugged and walked away. Snape looked around the room, ensuring that no one thought anything of the situation when he noticed Jameson disappearing down a hallway with a cloaked man Severus did not recognize.

Severus stiffened, what was going on? Suspicious, as any former spy would be, he followed the two men, tugging Granger along with him. She opened her mouth to protest at this treatment but he glared at her and mouth snapped shut almost audibly.

Snape followed the two men down the hallway a sharp clacking noise rang out and he stopped, Granger's heels, why hadn't he thought of the noise they would make as she walked? That was the fourth mistake he had made today, it was almost as if he was losing his touch. Thinking quickly he pushed Granger into an alcove, if the men heard them they would be likely to believe he had come back here for a quick tryst with his mistress. The alcove was small and there was barely enough room for both of them so he ended up pushing her against the wall, his body pressed along hers.

Granger glared at him, "What on earth are you doing?" she protested, trying to break free of his grasp, her face flushed, "I am not actually your mistress, you can't treat me like this. I'll file for sexual harassment and then you'll really be in trou-"

He pressed his hand against her mouth to silence her. He would have time to explain later. He heard footsteps coming down the hall as the men returned into hearing range, "Well it has been excellent doing business with you, Sir," Jameson's voice echoed down the hallway.

If he didn't do something the men would find him and be alerted that he was watching them. Looking down at Granger, who was still struggling to speak despite the presence of his hand against her mouth, he realized that there was only one way their position could be explained, no matter how unpleasant it might be.

"Be quiet or you'll ruin everything," he hissed at her as he removed his hand. The footsteps grew closer, "Sorry Granger, there's only one way to explain our way out of this," and he bent to kiss her.

* * *

Hermione heard the footsteps of the two men they had followed coming down the corridor and felt Snape's body stiffen. What on earth was going on? Why had he followed them? Snape removed his hand, hissing a warning to be quiet that instantly silence her bubbling protests.

Snape looked down at her, "Sorry Granger, there's only one way to explain our way out of this," he said.

Hermione had only one moment to process what he had said before his mouth descended over hers. She gasped in shock and Snape took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. To her surprise, the feeling of his kiss was not entirely unpleasant; in fact perhaps she now understood why he said no mistress would ever leave him even for a younger, handsomer man. Snape's kiss revealed that he was capable of a fierce passion that he never allowed anyone to see from simple observation.

"Escaping the party to enjoy your mistress I see," Jameson's voice issued from the hallway. Snape turned and pulled her out of the alcove along with him.

"What, jealous Jameson?" Snape asked. Hermione did her best to stand steadily beside him despite her trembling knees, why had his kiss had such an effect on her?

"Ha, not at all Severus. That one seems even stupider than your usual mistress, always practically gaping like fish. I'm surprised that for a man of such supposedly great intellect you always choose such moronic women for your companions."

Hermione glanced at Snape, had he truly only been in relationships with stupid women? Truly, she couldn't imagine him having a relationship with someone whose intelligence was so far beneath his, he truly seemed to revile stupidity of any sort. Snape shrugged, "It hardly matters what their brains are like, Jameson, I never talk to them much. We are always far too occupied with other activities that we never get the chance to."

Hermione stifled a gasp of indignation. Snape would not truly use a woman that way, would he? As much as she hated him at times, she truly believed he was a good man and one who was deep rather than shallow. Snape looked down at her, warning in his eyes, "Come Harmonia, we are done here."

With that he snatched her arm and dragged her along. She was both too tired and too shocked by all that had happened to protest.

When they returned to their quarters at Hogwarts, Snape sunk into his armchair, his gaze distant.

"What was that all about Professor? Who was that Jameson and why do you hate each other so much? Who was that man he was talking to? And what-"

"Can you not contain your interminable curiosity for one second Miss Granger!" Snape growled at her, "I'm in no mood to answer your stream of questions right now. I'm still sorting it all out for myself. And I also have no doubt it all relates to my mission, which you are not yet privy to the details of."

Hermione waited a moment but found that she truly could not contain herself, "Could I maybe just as one tiny question? An innocent one – not one that involves any secrets."

Snape sighed, "I suppose you will give me no peace until I let you ask. But I will not guarantee that I will answer it."

Hermione thought, it had to be a good question if she could only ask one, but only one question lingered in her mind as she studied Snape's rigid form, "Is it true that you really treat you mistresses so callously that you never even speak with them?"

Snape's head snapped up and he glared at her, "Of all the questions you could ask - that's the one you choose? Very well, I will not deny I have had a few relationships in my life that were lacking in substance. But all the women like that who I've been with have approached me, I've never forced or paid a woman for what she's given me."

"May I have one more question," Hermione asked, the curiosity bubbling unabated in her mind.

"Very well," Snape said, "ask away."

"Have you ever been in a substantial relationship?"

"Now, you are crossing a line. I will not stand to be interrogated by you about my love life as if you were the tabloid writer for the Daily Prophet. I am surprised at you, Granger, while your questions are always annoying you've reached a new level of stupidity with these. I think it is time for you to go to bed before you work up the courage to ask another."

When she didn't move, he stood and rested his hands on her shoulders, her heart beat quicker and she felt her cheeks flush as she remembered the last time he'd been this close – when he had kissed her. He rolled his eyes, "Don't flatter yourself Granger, the only reason I kissed you was to keep Jameson from thinking I was deliberately following him," he said as he turned her so she was facing the door to her chamber and pushed her towards it.

"Why did you follow him?" Hermione asked as she recovered her senses.

"Now you choose to ask an intelligent question?" he said, "but you've already asked two questions, twice what I said you could, so I'm afraid you won't get an answer to that one."

With that he opened the door to her chamber, pushed her in gently, and slammed the door behind her.

She turned back to the face the door, she knew she probably shouldn't but she couldn't resist, "What was he talking to the cloaked man about?" she shouted at the door, instantly regretting it.

She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable scolding. But to her great surprise instead of sarcastic remark, a deep chuckle came from the other side of the door, "Give your inquisitive mind a rest and go to sleep Granger," Snape said, in a tone that might have been called gentle had it been anyone else speaking.


End file.
